Thoughts on Money

after writing about money for a decade, what have I figured out about money, you ask? financial security isn't a number, it’s a relationship with "enough."

no number will ever feel like enough when your sense of security is tied to one. you hit the milestone, the goalpost moves, you blame yourself for moving it.

Time matters. So much of the rat race that squeezes your free time means you have to spend loads of money on convenience purchases (woke up too late for the bus, had to take an Uber; no time to make dinner from scratch; etc) but even more importantly, if you do not have ample free time, you cannot learn how to be satisfied.

But consumption smoothing pays homage to an existential reality: Life itself is the ultimate scarce asset. The future is unknowable, and religiously maintaining a double-digit savings rate through the worst squalls of life is not of the utmost importance.

“conventional budgeting methods rely on restriction, discipline, and perfectionism in a way that doesn’t work for people. They ignore an important truth about money: it’s meant to be spent.”

You can't win a game if you don't know the rules of the game. You need to understand how money works. You need to understand how money moves. You need to understand how to use it as a tool. My whole mantra working with clients in financial services as an advisor isn't so much to tell people what to do, but to make sure they understand how things... See more

I have great control of my money when I am earning it. I have zero control of my money when I am not.

Small Planet Institute co-founder Anna Lappé once said:

“Every time you spend money, you’re casting a vote for the kind of world you want.”